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Vestige is the first book in a two book series

Excerpt:

"By the time the lunch bell rang, Micah was certain that everyone had chilled, so he made his way to the school courtyard and to their usual table. As he approached his friends, he could see that Jess was crying, and then he noticed Dustin’s arm draped around her shoulder.

“Jess...seriously...what’s wrong?” Micah wedged himself between Jess and Dustin, forcing Dustin to slide over several inches.

“My family...my little brother and sisters are gone. The police think some cult kidnapped them...all of them.” Jess buried her face into Micah’s shoulder and continued her sobbing. “Oh Micah, what am I going to do? This is the worst day of my entire life.”

Micah put his arm around Jess and kissed the top of her pink head. “So...I guess we’re not babysitting.”

Jess stopped crying, lifted her head, and glared at Micah. She pushed his arm away, picked up her things, and marched off. Amber shot Micah a disgusted look and ran after her friend.

“Smooth,” Cody said.

“What? I didn’t mean anything by it. I just wanted to know,” replied Micah.

“Yeah right, jackass,” Dustin said. “You just wanted to know if you were still going to get some. Don’t you care about anyone but yourself?” Dustin smirked.

“What makes you think Micah’s getting any? This kid is still a virgin. Isn’t that right, Micah,” mocked Cody.

Micah tried to change the subject. “Are we going to the park after school today?”

“Nah, man. I have to look for my dog,” Cody said. “He ran away or something. He’s been missing since last night. I let him out around 8:00, and when I went to let him back in, he was gone. I bet my dad left the gate open on purpose. He hates that dog.”

“That’s weird. My neighbor’s dog ran away too,” Dustin added. “He was yellin’ that dog’s name all night, ‘Daphne... Daphne.... Where are you girl?’ What a douche. I didn’t sleep at all.”

“I saw a lady looking for her dog this morning,” Micah said.

“Maybe the same cult that took Jess’s little brother and sisters took all the dogs too.” Dustin laughed.

“Wanna ditch?” Since Micah wasn’t going to see Jess after school, he wanted to skip an afternoon of total boredom. He couldn’t stand the thought of sitting in the auditorium for another three hours.

“Nah, me and Amber are in the library together. She’ll be pissed if I ditch without her,” replied Cody.

“I’m in the cafeteria.” Dustin looked at Micah. “Jess is too.”

“Asshole,” Micah muttered.

“You’re on your own, Micah.” Cody stood and headed towards the school. Dustin gave Micah one last smirk and followed Cody.

“Fine.” As Micah slinked away in the other direction, he wondered where he should go. He couldn’t go home, and since he only had a fiver, he couldn’t hang out at the arcade. He eventually settled on the park.

Ever since Micah was a kid, he loved the park. It was just so…ordinary—an ordinary place where ordinary parents played with their ordinary kids. It became his refuge from the crazy. He would watch these ordinary people and take mental pictures, and these pictures would sustain his daydreams for as long as he needed them to do so. These people gave him hope that maybe one day he might have an ordinary family of his own."

My Review:

*I hereby award this book 5 wings*

When I was first offered the chance to be on this blog tour, I knew by the name of the author that I wanted to read the book. I have read a book by her quite recently and I loved it so much. The style of her writing made me sure that anything she wrote would be on my TBR pile.

Then came the opportunity to read this and I jumped at it. Let me tell you, I am glad I did. I really hope that book 2 comes out soon so that I can see how it all ends.

The story of VESTIGE is told from a 3rd person view point. There are several characters that play main roles and so you get to see the story unfolding as they do.

Who are those characters? Well we have Micah, Clarke and Father Thomas. What parts do they play? Well that's really something that you learn through reading the story, but I will give you my - hopefully not too long-winded or 'spoilery' - version of events.

In the suburb of LaGrange, something has gone awry. It starts with Bob, the dog of a homeless man, going missing. It doesn't really seem all that strange to begin with, until children also start disappearing. In the space of 24 hours, all children, pets and many adults have gone missing. There seems to be no explanation for this whatsoever.

It's not long before the rest of civilisation realise that this is more than the odd disappearance - people haven't just gone missing in LaGrange - but in fact, all over the world.

Luckily, Daniel Grimshaw - Secretary of Homeland Security - is on hand to try and restore order. As part of this, everyone left behind must get tagged. He needs to be able to account for everyone. This tagging consists of a barcode being imprinted on your hand - it is a unique number, generated by you handing over your social security number, your drivers licence, any form of I.D you may have.

17 year old Micah and his family have been planning for such an event to take place, Micah refers to it as 'Zombie Apocalypse' survivalist training. However, now Micah's family are among the missing, it is left to him to look after himself. It's a good job his family have a bunker and a stock of enough food to last a family of 4 two years.

Clarke wakes up one morning and her Father is nowhere to be found. This might not seem so unusual, except for the fact that he is disabled and can't just get up and leave. Clarke assumes he is with the home -help, Mary. She calls to make sure, but the phone goes to voicemail. So Clarke goes and takes a long shower, something she has been incapable of doing since she started caring for her Father when her Mother left. She even makes herself breakfast and enjoys having a little bit of freedom.

Ever since her Mother left, Clarke has been the one to look after her Father. He has MS and is incapable of doing the normal things that one would take for granted. Clarke often has to do more than other daughters have to do, like help feed and dress him. So it's nice that she should get this time to herself.

Until that is, she realises that people have been going missing and her Father must be amongst them.

I won't tell you any more here as I feel like I could keep talking all day and then it would be pointless you reading the book for yourself. Suffice to say, there is more to this story than first meets the eye. It is full of intrigue from the beginning and it doesn't end with the end of the book. I sat here thinking "Oh my god it did not end there. Where's the next book? I need to read it now" I really need to get my hands on book 2 so that I can find out what happens.

The world that Deb Hanrahan has created, is great in many ways. I love the good characters, I loathe the bad ones. I can honestly say that I love Deb's way of writing. The two books I have read by her have been polar opposites of each other and it is good to know she's not just a good author in one genre, but is capable of taking on new things and making them work for her.

This is one of those books that keeps you guessing and never gets boring, it just gets more intriguing and better as it goes along.

Thank you to RABT for providing this book for review. I am glad to be a part of this tour.

Thank you also and more importantly maybe, to Deb Hanrahan for creating this unique story that I love. It is definitely one book that I would love to own in paperback, not just the e-copy I have.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are

entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This

disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of

I Was Awarded...

I Was Given The Liebster Blog Award

Gothic Angel's Goodreads Shelf

About Me

My name is Keren. I am a 30 year old mom of 1. His name is Calum and he is 6.
Reading is pretty much in my blood and I have been reading since I knew what the written word was. I used to be the biggest Stephen King and Dean Koontz fan but have now broadened my horizons and my tastes encompass a lot of things. I have very eclectic taste in life in general. From the Gothic, to the more girly.
I am a big lover of Indie Authors such as Nancy Straight, Rachael Wade, Selene Chardou, Kate Laurens, Jo A Cattell and far too many others to name.
I have just signed a publishing contract with Limitless Publishing for a YA Paranormal Romance I have just finished writing called Stolen.